Nutritional Status

Have you ever wondered what your insides are made of? Not just the major systems and organs and fluids, but the constituent amino acids, minerals, vitamins, and the other under emphasized aspects of our construction.

There is a certain ideal balance that our body can achieve if given the right environment, fuel, and circumstances. The question is, how close to that balance is your body in particular? Is an imbalance causing your unusual symptoms or contributing to your chronic illness? Is your illness both caused by and exacerbating serious deficiencies? How is it possible to know?

Our Calgary naturopathic doctors utilize nutritional profiles that evaluate five key areas of your body: metabolic function, amino acids, essential fatty acids, element analysis, and oxidative stress.

Metabolism is, in essence, the chemical process of turning fuel (food) into usable energy. The analysis checks different acids that play important roles in chemical reactions for digestion, cell function, neurotransmitters, and the optimum usage of vitamins and minerals. By testing these acids it is possible to get a snap shot of whether your body is deficient in certain areas and not able to keep up with metabolic demand, or if demand is too high to begin with. Either of those scenarios could cause problems now or later. In the case of deficiency, you may experience muscle and joint pain, fatigue, mood problems, or digestive upset.

Amino acids are the raw ingredients of protein, which are used in virtually every function in your body. Amino acids are divided into essential, which your body cannot create on its own, and non-essential, which your body can create as long as it has the right environment and tools to do so. Deficiency can lead to serious problems, such as learning disabilities, immune and neurological dysfunction, extraordinary fatigue, and consequential deficiency of vitamins and minerals.

Fatty acids line cell membranes and control the movement of substances into and out of those cells. As with amino acids, the problems caused by deficiency of fatty acids cannot be overstated: mood issues, inflammatory disease, joint and muscle disorders, cardiovascular disease, and skin problems.

Elemental analysis looks at the mineral content within your cells, which provides information not only about the level of important minerals, but also toxic ones. Imbalances in this area can cause a huge array of problems, from hair loss to headaches, depression, memory loss, fibromyalgia, and on and on depending on the imbalance and mineral in question.

Oxygen is one of the key ingredients for life, and is also one of the key agents of growing up and growing old. Oxidative stress — highly reactive molecules that cause damage to our bodies if not removed — is one of the most common daily assaults on human beings, and can lead to skin and immune troubles, heart disease, neurological disease, various sensitivities, and many other problems, big and small. Diagnostic tests used at the Nardella Clinic in Calgary look at oxidants versus antioxidants, comparing supply and demand.